


Not All Heroes Wear Capes

by EtLaBete



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Genji Shimada is a Little Shit, M/M, Meddling, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 10:51:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9178408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtLaBete/pseuds/EtLaBete
Summary: Genji watches his brother and his best friend pine over each other, and he is tired of waiting for one of them to make the first move.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because I really wanted to use the hashtag "Genji Shimada is a Little Shit." That's it. That's the only reason, other than loving McHanzo. 
> 
> I also wrote it all in one go and did not have a beta, so apologies for any typos! Hope you enjoy.

He finds the cowboy in one of the training rooms. 

Genji hits the release for his faceplate as he takes a seat down next to Jesse, who offers him a lazy grin and a nod, the smoldering light on the end of his cigarillo bobbing. They do not speak for several minutes, both studying the array of bullet-torn target bots down the training lane. One of them still sparks. Genji wonders how long the other man has been sitting here, idle and staring. He makes a mental note to ask Athena for log times later, if only to strengthen his case. 

“You were not at dinner this evening,” Genji says as he leans back and crosses his arms. 

Jesse snorts. “Not hungry, if you can believe it.” 

“Why is that?” 

“I ate a big lunch.”

Genji hums thoughtfully. “Or perhaps you were preoccupied.” 

Jesse huffs, smoke trickling from between his lips. “Not this again.”

“Perhaps you are just hungry for something else,” Genji continues, pretending to study his fingertips, as if there were nails there. He doesn’t look at Jesse as he adds,“Or someone.” 

Jesse swipes the cigarillo out of his mouth so he can run his metal fingers roughly through his hair. “Ya know, I’m an only child n’all, but I reckon this is unusual behavior for a sibling.” 

“I only wish for my brother to be happy. I also wish the same for you.”

“I don’t know how many times I gotta tell ya there’s noting between me an’ your brother,” Jesse sighs. “Actually, I’m pretty sure he’d opt to kill you again before he ever came at me in the way yer thinkin’.” 

A laugh is startled out of Genji. “What a horrible thing to say!”

“I speak the truth, partner,” Jesse drawls gravely. “It’s like that old movie. He just ain’t that into me.” 

Genji grins. “I would think, considering all the time you spend with him, that you would have come to understand Hanzo’s tells.” 

“Oh, I understand them plenty. He tells me to shut my mouth all the damn time, and then he tells me not to be such a damn fool, and on a good day, he tells me I look like a caricature of a man. Not much decipherin’ needed, if ya ask me.” 

“You are both so stubborn,” Genji sighs, leaning his head back against the wall. “It is maddening.”

“I ain’t stubborn,” Jesse mutters, and there’s a certain weight behind his words that makes Genji turn to look at him. “I’m just realistic, is all.”

Genji’s partially synthetic heart gives a sympathetic pang. “For all your egotistical talk, you have a very low opinion of yourself, Jesse McCree.”

“Not in the slightest.” Jesse turns towards him, too, and offers a grin like it is an olive branch. “Realistic don’t mean the belt buckle is wrong, mind ya. Just means your brother has shitty tastes in romantic partners.”

“He does,” Genji deadpans, “which is why I do not understand why you insist you are out of his league.”

Jesse cackles at that. “You’re a little shit.” 

Genji shrugs. “It is true. My brother is fond of you, or he would not spend as much time in your presence as he does.”

“Enough, Genji,” Jesse all but whispers, the smile and laughed wiped away immediately. “Please, enough.”

“Jesse,” he begins, but is cut off. 

“For Pete’s sake, can’t you just let it go? I see what you’re doin’, or tryin’ to do, and I appreciate it, but havin’ this talk over n’over with you is wearin’ on my nerves something fierce. I’m not the type o’man who pines for somethin’ he can’t have, and you remind me o’that fact every time you bring it up.” 

Genji swallows the sudden lump in his throat and looks back towards the bots. “I only wish for you to be happy.”

“I’d be a lot happier if you stopped badgerin’ me all the damned time.” 

“And if I were right?” Genji murmurs fiercely. “You are willing to risk that happiness, and perhaps the happiness of my brother, all because you believe that you do not deserve it. I cannot sit idly by and watch you ruin something that could benefit you both.” 

Jesse rests an elbow on his knees and covers his face with his hand. “This ain’t a business deal, and it certainly ain’t about what I deserve. You think I wouldn’t take it if I thought I had a chance?”

“Do you think I would push if I did not believe it to be true?” Genji hisses, turning bodily towards Jesse. He reaches out and places a hand on the other man’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “You are my oldest friend, Jesse McCree. You were a brother to me when I thought I no longer had one. I would not lead you astray.”

Jesse’s swallow is audible. “And if you’re wrong?” he asks, slowly lowering his hand to stare at Genji. “If I make a right fool outta myself and he don’t feel the same? I’m pretty sure I can handle this unrequited love bullshit, but I don’t rightly know if I can handle losin’ that and his friendship, too.” 

There’s a rawness to the cowboy’s expression that Genji hasn’t seen in a long time, but even that does not make him falter when he says, “I am not wrong.” 

Jesse sighs and bows his head. Brown, mussed hair falls forward, obscuring his face. Genji keeps his hand clasped on Jesse’s shoulder until the man grabs his hat, plops it on his head, and sits up straight.

“I’ll think about it,” he says solemnly. 

Genji nods. He thinks that is as much as he can expect right now. “Thank you.” 

“Well.” Jesse stands and adjusts his serape, fingers lingering on his holster and the butt of his gun momentarily. “I’m gonna go n’see if there’s somethin’ left over for me to scrounge up in the kitchen.”

Genji huffs out a laugh as he reattaches his faceplate. “Angela saved you a plate,” he says around the hiss of his ventilation system.

“Well, ain’t she an angel,” Jesse hums, lazy grin back in place. “Thanks, Genji. I appreciate what you’re tryin’ to do, even if it’s futile.”

Genji offers a casual two-fingered salute. “It is not futile, but do not thank me. I am a hero, after all.”

Jesse’s chuckle bounces around the walls of the room as he leaves. 

Genji stays where he is and stares down the firing lane. He wonders, not for the first time, if he is overstepping his bounds. Even as a young boy, Hanzo accused him of the same rash behavior. And for Jesse to be so put out by his interference… it tells him that maybe he should consider absolving himself of this task. He does not know if the effort will be worth it, anyway, especially if neither of them can see past their own self doubts. 

Genji is walking to his rooms and has nearly convinced himself that it is not his place to intercede when he stops just outside of one of the rec rooms. He hears Hanzo’s voice, quiet and measured, filter through into the hallway.

“Are you unwell, cowboy?”

“Nah, I’m fine, partner. Just a lil’ tired, is all.”

“Perhaps I should make you a cup of tea so that you may sleep more fitfully.” 

Jesse’s laugh is genuine and warm. “You know I don’t like that hot grass water, Shimada.”

Hanzo tsks. “Ah, yes. I almost forgot that your tastes are horrendous.”

“Not all of ‘em,” Jesse replies, still laughing, but there’s a current beneath the words.

“I strongly disagree,” Hanzo replies with a snort. 

It takes several moments for Genji to convince himself not to release the dragon and end all of their suffering. 

***

He unfortunately sees them bickering the next morning over their morning coffee and wishes he had done it. 

The rest of the team is crammed together at the large table in the center of the mess hall, but Hanzo and Jesse sit apart at a small table with a chess board and two steaming mugs in between them. Hanzo rolls his eyes as Jesse talks, all but snarls when Jesse snatches his knight off the board with a gleeful smile. Jesse’s smile softens when Hanzo stares down at the board. He does not notice when Hanzo studies him just as secretively, his hands clenching and unclenching in his lap. 

Genji nearly throws one of his _shuriken_ at them. 

Instead, he centers himself and walks towards to their table. “Good morning, brother,” he says jovially. “Jesse.” 

“Good morning,” Hanzo replies, tilting his head downward slightly in a bow before turning immediately back to the board. 

“Mornin’,” Jesse says with a toothy smile even though the look he shoots at Genji says, _don’t you dare._

_I dare,_ Genji thinks, and continues to watch Hanzo systematically decimate Jesse’s pawns. 

***

He corners Hanzo the next afternoon in his quarters as he is readies himself for a mission that will take him off base for the better part of three weeks. Jesse is not on the roster. He already knows the cowboy is sulking because of it, but even then, he will not make a move. Genji is nearly at the end of his rope. He is not the type to give up easily, but he fears these two idiots may finally rob him of his determination. 

He cannot have that. 

“Will you not tell him how you feel, _niisan_?” 

“Genji,” Hanzo sighs, “for the last time, it is not your business. Stop meddling.” 

“The two of you are as stubborn as boars!” Genji snaps, throwing his hands up the in the air as he paces around the room. “I cannot believe you dance around this even though it is within grasp. I would think, after everything, that you would wish to take life by the reigns.” 

Hanzo zips his duffle bag and turns towards his brother, eyes narrowed. He studies Genji for several moments before he speaks. “Why are you so determined for me to confess?”

Genji wishes his visor was off so Hanzo could see how hard he’s rolling his eyes. “It does not have to be you, _niisan_. I would be happy if either of you would finally do it and put me out of my misery.”

“Your misery?” Hanzo repeats, very obviously avoiding the mention of Jesse’s requited feelings. He takes a step forward. “What is in it for you?”

 _Or perhaps_ , Genji thinks, _my brother really is that dumb._

He does not say that, just tilts his head to the side, hands clasped in front of him innocently. “Nothing except for the happiness of my older brother and my oldest of friends.”

Hanzo groans, obviously growing more exasperated by the second. He opens his mouth to speak, shuts it, and then grinds his teeth together. “Now is hardly the time, Genji.” He turns back to his bed, where the duffle and his still open bow case lie. “Please, leave it be. I will think upon it when I return.”

Jesse gave him the same load of shit. Genji slaps a palm to his forehead. The metals click together as he mutters, “The two of you and your excuses.”

“The two of us?” Hanzo says, back going ramrod straight. Slowly, he turns around, eyes filled with fire and hands balled into fists. His voice rises as he speaks. “Please do not tell me you have spoken of this to him, Genji. Please do not tell me you have been so stupid as to betray my trust.” 

“I would never!” Genji exclaims, placing a hand over his heart. He mentally takes back his wish that Hanzo could see his face—the older Shimada would definitely be able to tell that he was lying. “I merely mean I grow tired of waiting.” 

Hanzo does not look like he believes him in the slightest but says nothing. Genji follows suit and deigns to keep his mouth shut. 

***

Jesse doesn’t come to the hanger the next morning like some of the others who bid their teammates goodbye and good luck as the six-man roster boards the jet. He sees Hanzo glance around, obviously searching for someone, and if his scowl is anything to go by, he is disappointed. 

When Genji passes Jesse in the halls later that evening, he all but snarls, “You are an idiot.” 

“I know,” Jesse replies, voice level, and keeps walking.

***

Hanzo returns from his mission in critical condition, and Genji meets them in the hanger. 

Lucio rolls Hanzo out on a stretcher. He is attached to machines, including an oxygen mask. The audio-medic’s music emits gentle, soothing tones from the connected speaker, but it does nothing to drown out the harsh, wet sounds of Hanzo’s ragged breathing. His obi is saturated with blood. Cut and bruises mar his ashen skin. His eyebrows are drawn down, contorting his expression into one of pain.

Lucio’s usually smiling face is grim. 

“Status report,” Angela barks as she all but runs into the hanger. 

“At least a few broken ribs, a collapsed lung, concussion, multiple contusions—” 

Lucio continues to list injuries, but Genji does not hear it. All he can do is focus on the shallow rise and fall of his brother’s blood-spattered chest. 

They continue to move towards the medbay. Tracer follows. The others on the mission roster— D.Va, Mei, and Pharah— all hang back. 

“The building crumbled,” Tracer babbles. She disappears and reappears in bursts of blue light around the stretcher, her eyebrows drawn low and her face pale. Genji thinks she may be crying behind her tinted goggles. “There was a bloody bomb in the basement. We didn’t know and—”

“Lena, I need to you to sit down and compose yourself, do you understand?” Angela says, all business, though her tone softens after a moment. “Stay with the others. I need you to be strong. I will update you as soon as I have information.” She turns to Genji as they reach the doors. “You should stay here, as well.”

“I wish to be there with my brother,” Genji begins, but Angela reaches forward, grabbing his hand. She squeezes tight. 

“I understand,” she murmurs. “I do. But I need to be able to focus, and that will be nearly impossible if you are there. I will do everything I can, Genji. You know that I will.”

Genji nods numbly. Angela lets go of his hand, and then she and Lucio continue through the doors of the operating room, which whoosh closed behind them. He is left in silence.

He does not know how long he stands there, staring at the frosted glass, before he feels a hand on his shoulder. He has no reason to expect any one person, but he is not surprised to find Jesse there when he turns around. The cowboy is without his hat, and his hair is a disheveled mess. There is a glassiness to his eyes that makes Genji’s chest constrict beneath the carbon fiber plating. He can barely breathe despite the oxygenation system in his suit. 

“He will be fine,” Genji finally murmurs, his voice cracking. “He will be fine, and then you will stop being an imbecile, and you will tell him that you care for him. You will stop wasting precious time.” 

“I will,” Jesse croaks, swallows, releases a shaky breath. “Hell, Genji. I’ll give him the damn sun and the moon if he pulls through.” 

“I will hold you to it,” Genji whispers. 

They wait. 

***

He is there when Hanzo wakes nearly four days later. 

“Genji?” his brother rasps.

Genji, who had been dozing in the chair next to the hospital bed, jolts upwards, heart pounding. He is glad that he had taken off his visor, as tears immediately well in his eyes. 

Hanzo moves and then groans, squeezing his eyes shut. 

“Do not try to sit up, _niisan_ ,” Genji murmurs, grasping at Hanzo’s hand. His own is shaking, and he hopes his brother does not notice. “You are still in critical condition after surgery.”

Hanzo huffs out a shaky breath but nods. “The building. There was a bomb.” 

Genji’s voice cracks when he says, “You almost did not make it.” 

“I did not think I would,” Hanzo admits quietly. He grips at Genji’s hand. “But here I am.” 

They sit there in silence. It is comfortable, and Genji does not want the moment to end, but Angela walks into the room, heels clicking. When she sees that Hanzo is awake, her face breaks into a bright smile. For a moment, Genji thinks she might cry. 

“Oh, thank God,” she says. “We were all very worried.”

“You of all people should know that the Shimada are very resilient, Dr. Zieglar.” Hanzo manages a weak smile. “Thank you for your continued care.”

Genji can’t help it. He laughs.

Angela pages Lucio, who appears a few minutes later. He whoops, fist pumping the air and seemingly unoffended that he was roused from sleep, and then he promptly ushers Genji out of the room so they may take Hanzo’s vitals and redress his wounds. Genji sulks for a moment, but then sprints down the halls until he is in front of one Jesse McCree’s quarters. He is wheezing by the time he gets there, his visor forgotten in the medbay, but he does not care. He knocks. 

When there is no answer, he pounds. 

He hears a muffled curse, and then Jesse opens the door in nothing but his boxer briefs. 

“It’s nearly 4 o’clock in the mornin’,” Jesse groans. “This better be good.”

“I hope you have found a way to procure the sun and the moon, my friend,” Genji says and grins.

Jesse blinks stupidly for a moment, but then his brain seems to catch up. “He’s awake?” 

Genji’s grin widens. “He is.”

“Lord have mercy,” Jesse huffs and bows his head, but Genji does not miss the smile that tugs at his lips.

***

Genji does not leave Hanzo’s side for the better part of the morning and afternoon. Angela has limited visitor access to Hanzo’s room, which is wise, as Genji assumes nearly everyone on base at the moment would be rushing in to see him. As it is, his communicator keeps going off, so he is forced to turn it off. 

The medbay is strangely silent aside from the continuous thrum of Lucio’s music in the background, the occasional television sounds when Genji gets bored and flips through the channels, and Hanzo’s steady breathing as he sleeps. As much as he wishes for the company, Genji is thankful that his brother is able to rest. He knows that Hanzo is stubborn, which means they have only a short time before he begins disregarding Angela’s advise and doing more than he should.

Apparently it is a Shimada trait. He remembers the ups and downs of his own recovery well, including Angela threatening to tie him to his bed. 

Hanzo wakes again later in the afternoon. They talk quietly for some time as Hanzo chokes down one of Lucio’s protein shakes. 

“This is awful,” Hanzo grumbles, lips pulled down into a scowl. 

“Doctor’s orders, _niisan_ ,” Genji chastises. 

Hanzo glares at the drink. “He is a medic, not a doctor.” 

Genji snickers. 

The door to Hanzo’s room suddenly swings open. It startles them both, and while Genji merely knocks his knee against the bed with a clang, Hanzo jerks and then hisses out in pain. Genji grabs the drink before he drops it and sets it on the side table.

“Pardon,” Jesse says sheepishly, taking off his hat in the doorway before stepping into the room. “I had to sneak in.”

“I am surprised you managed such a feat,” Hanzo says with a roll of his eyes, voice still raspy with pain. 

Genji looks towards Jesse, but he does not look back. His gaze is focused on Hanzo. The cowboy’s smile that he entered the room with starts to fall away. 

“I thought you were a goner.” He takes a few hesitant steps forward. “Had us all scared half to death.”

Hanzo shrugs. “Well, as you can see, I am not a _goner_.”

“Thank Christ,” Jesse whispers, voice wrecked, and before Genji realizes what he’s doing, Jesse drops his hat, stalks towards the bed, curls both hands gently around the curve of Hanzo’s jaw, and leans down to slot their lips together. 

Hanzo’s eyes widen, and then he sighs into the kiss, lids fluttering shut. 

“Finally,” Genji exclaims, falling back into his chair.

It only takes a few moments before his discomfort at watching his best friend kiss his brother wins out. He stands and clears his throat. Neither of them seem to notice him. Hanzo cannot raise his arms, but his hands are fisted in the ends of Jesse’s serape so tightly his knuckles are bleached white. When the two of them finally part, both breathe raggedly and stare into each other’s eyes. Jesse grins first, and Hanzo’s smile is not far behind. Genji watches what the smile does to Jesse—has been watching him melt over it for months—and rolls his eyes. Jesse, obvlivious, presses a kiss to the top of Hanzo’s head.

“Well, my work here is done,” Genji says with a sigh and begins to walk towards the door. “Now I must go collect. _Niisan_ , I will visit later.”

“Of course,” Hanzo murmurs, but Genji doesn’t even make it to the door before he demands, “Collect what?”

Genji stops and looks over his shoulder. Jesse and Hanzo both stare at him. Hanzo looks much more cross. 

“I may have lied when you asked what was in it for me,” he admits.

Jesse blinks. “What?”

“There was a bet going, you see,” Genji continues. “Regarding how long it would take the two of you to get your heads out of your asses and finally admit your feelings for one another. Most personell on the base participated. Perhaps the three of us can go out for ramen when you are well, brother. The pot was quite substantial.”

“How dare you,” Hanzo sneers. 

Jesse, however, sounds somewhat impressed. “I’ll be damned. You swindled us, you little shit. No wonder you been botherin’ me left and right about confessin’ to your brother.”

Hanzo’s eyes widen and he looks up at Jesse. “He has been doing this to you, as well?”

Jesse snorts out a laugh. “He has. I’ve been pinin’ over you like a goddamned forest for months now. Genji’s been tellin’ me I should grasp for happiness n’all that bull.” He shakes his head, the thumb of his flesh hand caressing Hanzo’s cheek. “Hot damn, Han. We’ve been had.” 

“The money is great and all, but I did this for your happiness!” Genji offers them the peace sign. 

“When I am able to leave this bed,” Hanzo begins over Jesse’s laughter.

“Please do not tear your stitches, _niisan_!” Genji calls as he hurries out the door. “Angela will be very cross!”

Before the door closes behind him, he hears Jesse say, “But damn, Hanzo, you’re beautiful when you’re angry,” and Hanzo reply, “ _Aishiteru_ , you idiot.” 

"Not all heroes wear capes," Genji mutters to himself and then laughs.


End file.
